View shifts on chemical in plastic

For first time, federal health panel says BPA may be harmful

Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, April 16, 2008

A federal health panel Tuesday for the first time acknowledged concerns that a chemical found in thousands of everyday products like baby bottles and compact discs may cause cancer and other serious disorders.

The draft report by the National Toxicology Program, an office of the National Institutes of Health, signaled a turning point in the government's position on bisphenol-a, or BPA, so ubiquitous in American society that it was detected in the urine of 93 percent of the population over 6 years of age.

Last year, another expert panel using outside scientists minimized the health risks of BPA, but its findings were widely assailed after a congressional investigation found that a firm hired to perform scientific analysis was also working for the chemical industry.

Used in plastic production since the 1950s, BPA in laboratory animals may be linked to breast cancer, prostate cancer, early puberty in females and behavioral changes, according to the study released Tuesday. It called for more research into the chemical's health effects.

Although the National Toxicology Program has no power to regulate BPA, its findings are used by other federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, which set safe exposure limits to chemicals.

"What we've got is a warning, a signal, of some concerns," said Mike Shelby, director of the Center for Evaluation for Risks to Human Reproduction, who oversaw the report. "We could not dismiss the possibility that similar or related effects might occur in humans."

Public health advocates said the report should spur the government to ban BPA, at least in baby products. Formula-fed infants are most vulnerable to the chemical, because it is found in baby bottles as well as the linings of canned powdered and liquid formula. "They get a double exposure," said Anila Jacob, a senior scientist at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group.

"It found no serious or high-level concerns for human health," he said. "More research is always considered valuable."

The toxicology panel used a five-level rating system, ranging from serious concern to negligible concern. It labeled the possible cancer risk of BPA as "some concern," in the middle of the scale. There was not enough scientific evidence to rank it as a "concern" or "serious concern," Shelby said.

Asked in an interview whether exposure to BPA can be eliminated, Shelby paused. "It's everywhere," he said. "It's not clear that we know all the sources of BPA exposure. The vast majority of exposure is through food and drink - cans and bottles. But there could be trace amounts in water, dust. Your cell phone is probably made out of it."

Because BPA is most readily absorbed through food and drink containers, health advocates have been particularly focused on how the Food and Drug Administration is regulating the chemical.

An FDA spokesman declined to comment on the new report, saying the agency had not had a chance to review it.

The FDA has been under fire from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has been investigating the influence of the chemical industry on the FDA's regulation of BPA in plastic liners inside metal cans of baby formula.

Last month, in response to questions from lawmakers, the FDA said it disregarded hundreds of government and academic studies about the cancer risks of BPA and used just two studies funded by the chemical industry to determine that the chemical is safe.

Tuesday's report should spur the FDA to reconsider its decisions regarding BPA, said Reps. John Dingell, D-Mich., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and Bart Stupak, D-Mich., chairman of the panel's Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee.

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"These assessments fly in the face of the FDA's determination that BPA is safe," Dingell said through a spokesman. "I hope the FDA is willing to reconsider their position on BPA for the safety of our infants and children."

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